Navajo Missing & Murdered Din Relatives Initiative
Established in March 2019, the initiative aims to address the ongoing crisis of missing and murdered Din relatives within the Navajo Nation. Through a multidisciplinary approach, the team seeks to support families, raise awareness, and promote justice while empowering Navajo communities to prevent and address intergenerational violence. The grassroots organization operates on a volunteer basis to bring healing to vulnerable populations.
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Missing & Murdered Din Relatives www.navajommdr.com navajommdr@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NavajoMMDR/ Instagram: @navajommdr
Established in March 2019 May 2016 tragic loss of Ashlynne Mike in Shiprock spurred a public outcry History of Missing & Murdered Din Relatives Sexual Assault Prevention Subcommittee Rather than labeling MMDR as an epidemic, we recognize that this issue is an ongoing crisis with historical roots dating back to the initial colonization of the American southwest Navajo Nation Missing Persons Updates: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/brief/304420/meskee-yatsayte
All hands on deck: team from an array of backgrounds to take a multidisciplinary approach to the missing and murdered crisis Seeking non-profit status Partnerships and collaborations are key Approach Overall Goals: Data driven approach to understand dynamics of MMDR Support families to elevate their voices: healing To recover our relatives and promote justice Community outreach and prevention Encourage community mobilization
Dynamic community-based team tasked with developing a framework for a proposed data institute, increase sustainability to support MMDR families, and to create a Missing Persons Community Action Toolkit to empower Navajo communities to be The Work proactive in prevention, awareness, and mobilization to recover our missing relatives The working group operates as a grassroots volunteer- based zero-funded organization Intent on bringing healing to the communities and protecting our most vulnerable populations
MMDR Action Teams Team 1: MMDR Data Institute Team 2: Sustainability Team 3: MMDR as a Non-Profit Team 4: Community Mobilization Team 5: Leadership Support
Intergenerational Trauma Violence on the Navajo Nation is a multi-generational and culturally pervasive phenomenon. The lack of resources to ensure the safety of Navajo women combined with the socio-economic challenges within the Navajo Nation, gang violence, poverty, and low educational attainment perpetuate a systemic culture of violence within Navajo families and communities. Although violent crimes are perpetrated by males at a higher rate, we acknowledge that they are also victims of violence and must be included in our work if we seek to address MMDR from a holistic and inclusive approach.
Case 1 26-year-old Katczinzki Ariel Begay went missing in July 2017 on the southeastern edge of the Navajo Nation in Arizona. Ariel was picked up from her residence by her boyfriend and never came back home. Efforts were made by law enforcement and a search ensued on the Navajo Nation in New Mexico and Arizona. Sadly, her remains were found in Oct. 2017 in Querino Canyon, Arizona. Her case remains unsolved today.
Case 2 26-year-old Amanda Dakota Webster, a married mother-of-three, was murdered in Florence, Kentucky on Dec. 2018. Amber was employed as a construction worker that had traveled out of state to provide income to her family on the Navajo Nation. 32-year-old Jesse James confessed to brutally stabbing Webster to death while staying at the same hotel as her. The two had no prior interactions with one another preceding the incident. James was arrested on Dec. 1, 2018, and the case is ongoing.
Case 3 Three transgender Navajo women were found beaten to death in Albuquerque, New Mexico: 23-year-old Vera Shey Hoskie (Jan. 2005) 32-year old Kelly Watson (June 2009) 42-year-old Cato Terri Benally (July 2009) All three victims bodies were found in the southeast side of Abq within a block of one another lying in a street or alley. Details of the murder of Hoskie and Watson remain unknown and no suspects have been detained. In Feb. 2018, Cato Benally s murderer was found and indicted on murder charges and is classified as a hate crime. In April 2019, Roger Paul Preston was convicted and sentenced to 16 years in prison for the murder of Benally.
Case 4 62-year-old Maranny Marena Hatalie Holiday, mother of three and grandmother, was murdered in Comb Ridge, Utah on Nov. 30, 2015. Marena was killed within the boundaries of the Navajo Nation after she was beaten then shot in the head by Timothy Lee Smith, a neighbor. In disposing of the body, the perpetrator tied a rope around Holiday s ankles to the back of his truck and dragged her body to hide under a tree. Marena was found the next day. Lee was later indicted by a federal grand jury for first-degree murder and sentenced to at least 20 years and no more than 30 years in prison by the U.S. District Court.
For more information: www.navajommdr.com navajommdr@gmail.com Facebook: Missing & Murdered Din Relatives Instagram: @navajommdr Navajo Nation Missing Persons Updates: https://www.facebook.com/NNMPU/ Instagram: @navajonation_missingpersons
